The tale of the Donner Party wasn’t the only cannibalism-related story to emerge from the American West. In February 1874, gold prospector Alfred (or Alferd) Packer led a party of five men into Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. When weather conditions deteriorated, he murdered and ate them. When the bodies were discovered the following spring, four of the five had been completely stripped of flesh. Although the skeletons showed signs of butchering, each was relatively complete and the bones showed no signs of smashing or cooking. Packer had no need to process the skeletons further, presumably because he had enough meat to survive until the spring. During Packer’s sentencing, the judge was rumored to have made the following statement: “There were only seven Democrats in Hinsdale County, and you ate five of them, you depraved Republican son of a bitch!”.